Grantee: University of California - Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Researcher: Martin Monti, Ph.D.
Grant Title: Cognitive processing and awareness at the lower boundaries of consciousness: Insights from the vegetative and minimally conscious states
Program Area: Understanding Human Cognition
Grant Type: Scholar Award
Amount: $600,000
Year Awarded: 2011
Duration: 6 years
What is consciousness? This may seem to be a purely philosophical question, yet it is at the center of one of the least understood conditions of the human brain: the Vegetative State. This term describes patients who, following severe brain injury, awaken from a state of coma but show no sign of awareness. For some patients, this dissociation of the two cardinal components of consciousness